Winter 2017/18 Projects

[roadnsky]

Boot stripe and final touchup coats on the bottom paint are finished!
This was a very labor intense project but satisfying to be on the backside now.
Splashdown in the next few days and winter sailing.

[Oldlaxer1]

Boot stripe and final touchup coats on the bottom paint are finished!
This was a very labor intense project but satisfying to be on the backside now.
Splashdown in the next few days and winter sailing.

Jerry, looking really good. (As pretty much everything on your boat does) I was fortunate to have met TomG here who graciously offered his boot stripe jigs that really made my life easier. I repainted the hull and bottom so I had to do the bootstripe basically from scratch. I left some reference marks on the hull and marked the stripe using the jigs. Pretty cool. The jigs adjusted for the change in hull shape, especially at the stern where the stripe gets physically wider but due to the hull shape appears the same width as it is at the other points of the hull.

[Oldlaxer1]

OldLaxer...I have not been to the boat, but I was looking in my archives for some lifeline pics. I found one of the sunshade, but it shows the basic dyneema lifeline parts too. My boat had no gate, and when you disconnected the wire lifelines at the stern pulpit, the whole shebang went slack. :thumbsdown:

The half length braces were added (they have a collar around the stanchion just above the lower lifeline, and screw into the deck just where the coaming is blocking the view) so i could 'create' a gate from the stern pulpit to the first stanchion at the front of the cockpit..I also reversed the location of the pelican hooks from original at the stern to the same stanchion, and added double screw eyes at the stanchion as an anchor point for fixed forward lifelines and anchor point for pelican hooks. At the bow, I have turnbuckles to compensate for the 'irregularities' in my ability to make a mark and create the exact same splice length each time, and there is a length adjustment on the pelican hook for the cockpit section. I also did a quick simple hand stitch thru the splices per Brion Toss' recommendations..The splices can creep under low load (like those crazy paper chinese finger puzzles we had as kids.) I did simple brummel splices and 'luggage tagged' everything like they do with halyards on race boats.

If I recall, I used 1/4" dyneema..way oversized for the strength required, but it is about the same OD as a wire w/ the plastic covering so it feels the same in your hands. Also, the breaking strength was something like 9,500 lbs.!!!! I always joke I could almost rig a lifting bridle for the boat with that stuff.

I'll be happy to snap more pics if needed...this was all CS Johnson hardware, circa 2011-2012 maybe..the newer stuff they have works even better with dyneema, you don't need those big metal loops all over the place, but you probably have to add the hardware into the splice, instead of luggage tagging. The round white thing hanging in the middle is a cheap solar light we hung off the stanchions.

Thanks Shawn. Like you, I have no gates so when I release the stern pelican hook the entire lifeline goes slack. Even at the dock that's not good. I'll send some pics of what I have in mind on Monday when I'm back in the office on a real computer instead of this IPad. BTW, I only have the top lifeline. I've been contemplating going to the double version. A bit pricey for the new stanchions unfortunately.

[sastanley]

Jerry, looking good...I guess we can now verify your boat and pristine engine is not in a museum...The dark boot stripe looks really good!!

Oldlaxer, the braces and stuff I got from Johnson should still work with a single lifeline..the key is the brace supports the stanchion where you want the gate..if you want it in the middle of the boat you just need supports on each stanchion where you put the gate, and the double eyes hold the load braced by the brace on the the parts you don't drop. Since they are ~20" up on a 24" stanchion, I think they would support a single lifeline just fine.

Lots of different ways to do it..I used the double eyes to terminate mine at the stanchion with the brace to keep the rest taught.

[toddster]

I have that project a bit farther down the list. I thought the logical place for the gates was forward, just aft of the shrouds, where the beam is max and close to the dock. Or possibly just outboard of the (future) dodger, where one could reach up and grab a handle to assist. Might even run a solid rail all the way around the cockpit.

Man, extra stanchions are pretty expensive, even the used ones! Turns out that my brother is down in the Keys this month, working on a contract to drag wrecks out of the mangroves. I think I'll write up a wish list of bits and pieces and send it to his phone...

[Mo]

Well, in the spring I need to take the mast down, paint it, check standing and running rigging, and check mast step. That's it so far.

My wife wants a bigger boat. Kids are bigger than us and a four day weekend excursion is like moving...so much "stuff" from home going to the boat so all the muffins can feel like they are home....hmmph. So, I have had the 30 for 10 years and it's been a real good boat. Trouble is convincing people that jumping up a few to 6 feet isn't really that much bigger and they will fill that too! My trailer is built to take "this" boat....I'm getting older, not younger.....I'm taking away the magazines.

This morning it was -10C / 14 F ....I put the carb on to do this all last week but was called away. This am got to it. The engine turned over about 30 seconds and started. I thought maybe it wouldn't go but it started...ran rough, choke half way in and she leveled out sounded good...then shut it down. Ran maybe 30 seconds or so. Auto antifreeze in engine and a short run like that won't hurt impeller. I usually turn it over once a month on the hard just to ensure valves don't seize etc.

[GregH]

Jerry, looking good...I guess we can now verify your boat and pristine engine is not in a museum...The dark boot stripe looks really good!!

Oldlaxer, the braces and stuff I got from Johnson should still work with a single lifeline..the key is the brace supports the stanchion where you want the gate..if you want it in the middle of the boat you just need supports on each stanchion where you put the gate, and the double eyes hold the load braced by the brace on the the parts you don't drop. Since they are ~20" up on a 24" stanchion, I think they would support a single lifeline just fine.

Lots of different ways to do it..I used the double eyes to terminate mine at the stanchion with the brace to keep the rest taught.

That is what I am doing as well... from bow to stern I am using Johnson:

LS-2900
LS-3200
LS-3170
LS-3300
LS-3400

Just running upper lifelines for now. I am using Brummel Splices with these kinds of ends- works great!

If you don't have the holes in your stanchions for lower lines, you could use something like

[joe_db]

FYI - I looked into Dyneema lifelines and passed. If you have a spinnaker or jib sheet across the lifeline it will get chafed through. This is why they are banned for racing. The local West Marine made up two stainless uncoated lifelines for me for pretty cheap - $120 or $140 or so total for both with fittings.
YMMV

[joe_db]

The AIS is coming along. It passes data to the computer real well and I see a lot more targets than with my old AIS receiver. The bad news is I seem to be having issues with getting data to the CP-180. The Google-Fu has been frustrating, apparently some firmware revisions of the 180 don't display data in the NMEA window and some don't display ATONs or Class B targets
More to come on that. The waterproof box and cable glands are from Amazon. Details if anyone wants them.

[Mo]

FYI - I looked into Dyneema lifelines and passed. If you have a spinnaker or jib sheet across the lifeline it will get chafed through. This is why they are banned for racing. The local West Marine made up two stainless uncoated lifelines for me for pretty cheap - $120 or $140 or so total for both with fittings.
YMMV

Uncoated lines are the way to go. My buddy Brad is a sailmaker/rigger and he recommends uncoated life lines. He says the white coating allows a spot at the edges where corrosion builds, may show signs of rust as well. Most times people leave those on until the break. He says the bare line doesn't exhibit those problems...what you see is what you have.

[joe_db]

Coated lifelines are banned as well. My old ones had plenty of cracks in the coating with brown stains seeping through. Stainless hates being covered.

[sastanley]

On the Henderson 30 I sometimes race on, they have dyneema lifelines, but they are double braid and have a cover. I am going to guess 3/16" core and a relatively thin (but tightly woven) cover..It looks more like a cordura (sp?) chafe cover than the loose wool blanket look of more traditional lines like Sta-set. I would assume this stuff would help with chafe protection. Doing a quick interweb search it might be something like Yale Maxibraid plus.

By the way, I am on the 3rd season of my Amsteel dyneema lifelines and they look OK to me. I am thinking that they are probably a 5 year replacement item to be safe, and it helps me keep my splicing skillz in practice.

[Al Schober]

New stove?
Recommend you think Origo. Definitely NOT pressurized alcohol.

[sastanley]

New stove?
Recommend you think Origo. Definitely NOT pressurized alcohol.

I have also replaced my pressurized Princess stove with a non-pressurized Origo stove. While not a perfect fit, it did fit into my Princess Stove alcove and is much better and safer IMO. I grew up with the Princess stove flaming up to the cabin house when my folks were making coffee..

I tried for several years to get parts for the Princess (I found a place in California), but ultimately the ease of use shifted me to the Origo..I highly recommend it...

[joe_db]

I have hit a snag with my project. My CP180 plotter is refusing to take AIS input on any NMEA port
The firmware version is from 2008, so I think I'll be sending it back to S-H for a firmware upgrade. This will cost about $35, which IMHO is quite reasonable and also a nice contrast to brand R, which tends to tell you "buy a new one" as the answer to any issue with any old equipment.
Another issue is not a big deal but just odd, the AIS seems to not be sending out the GPS per satellite signal quality string. On the computer and the plotter I can see the position and HDOP just fine, but no individual satellite signal levels